America’s public electric vehicle charging infrastructure, often cited as an issue holding back EV adoption, is showing signs of improvement, according to the latest research by J.D. Power.

The company’s 2024 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study found overall satisfaction with public charging increased for a second consecutive quarter.

Satisfaction with direct current fast chargers reached 664 on a 1,000-point scale, up 10-point from the same period in 2023, though public Level 2 charging’s rating dropped three points to 614 even with the recent quarter-over-quarter improvement.

“While the customer satisfaction scores for public charging continue to prompt concern, the results offer reasons for optimism,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of J.D. Power’s EV practice, in a news release. “Among users of Level 2 chargers, satisfaction improved in five of the 10 factors that make up overall satisfaction, and among DC fast charger users, satisfaction is up in six of the 10 categories.

“That indicates progress in many areas EV owners care about, like the speed and availability of fast chargers and the convenience of having other things to do during longer Level 2 charging sessions.”

One major factor in the increased satisfaction for DC fast chargers, the report said, is that Tesla’s Supercharger network is no longer limited to Tesla vehicles, as the company opened access as a result of multi-billion-dollar federal infrastructure funding. Non-Tesla owners were far happier with the Supercharger than other options, giving it a satisfaction score of 706, 42 points higher than the overall score of DC fast chargers.

Supercharger is by far the overall leader in satisfaction among DC fast chargers with a score of 731 — the only brand to score above the segment average. It’s the fourth consecutive year Tesla has topped the list. Among Tesla owners, the brand scored 743, down two points year-over-year.

The biggest gaps between Tesla and non-Tesla owners, the study showed, had to do with payment and charging. Tesla offers its owners a virtually automatic plug-and-pay ability that is not yet available to non-Tesla owners. And Superchargers are compatible with Tesla connectors while other EVs need an adapter to use them.

“Non-Tesla owners — like those with EVs from Ford or Rivian who now have access to the Supercharger network — appreciate the ability to charge at the broad network of Tesla chargers that was previously unavailable to them,” Gruber said. “Despite the recent influx of non-Tesla vehicles into the Supercharger facilities, which has caused some grumbling, Tesla owners still appreciate the ease of charging and ease of payment the network offers.”

Tesla’s Destination ranked highest among Level 2 charging stations with a score of 658, ahead of Volta (645) and ChargePoint (626).

Other findings include:

Speed matters: EV owners are losing patience with Level 2 public charging, with satisfaction for speed of charging declining four points to 451, and are expressing more satisfaction fast chargers’ charging time, as that score soared 34 pointes from 588 in 2023 to 622 this year. Gruber called DC fast charger speed “an important area of progress” and noted all brands improved in that area, “which is good news for the developing charging landscape.”

Automatic payments: Automatic payment systems such as Plug & Charge that identify and authenticate the vehicle and connect it directly to billing, which allows EVs to connect to a charge point and immediately begin charging scored 886 for ease of payment and 806 for ease of charging. Satisfaction among drivers who use a manufacturer’s mobile app is 860 for payment and 787 for charging, while credit or debit cards have the lowest scores in both ease of use (631) and ease of charging (596). Gruber said using automatic payment systems average 27 minutes, eight minutes faster than credit or debit cards and seven minutes faster than apps.

Non-charge visits: The study found 19% of all EV owners said they visited a charger but were not able to charge their vehicle, down just one percentage point from 2023, with 61% saying the charger was out of service or wouldn’t work. Lack of charger availability and/or long wait times was cited by 20% or more of EV owners in the Middle Atlantic, Pacific and East North Central region, and damage to the cable or connector affected 10% nationwide.

“While this year’s study points to hopeful signs that the industry is moving in the right direction, concerning issues remain,” Gruber said. “Too often public charging is not a satisfying experience for EV owners. One issue is sheer availability. Sadly, the growth of public chargers, especially DC fast chargers that EV owners increasingly favor, is not keeping up with the number of EVs in service.

“Another concern is theft and vandalism. Some charger facilities are experiencing a high rate of cable damage or theft which, for example, account for 14% of charging failures in the Mountain region. That further exacerbates the issue.”

The J.D. Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study, driven by a collaboration with PlugShare, measures EV owners’ satisfaction using 10 factors: ease of charging, speed of charging, physical condition of charging station, availability of chargers, convenience of location, things to do while charging, how safe you feel at the location, ease of finding this location, cost of charging and ease of payment.

The study used responses from 9,605 owners of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids from January through June 2024.